Story:

Blast from the past.

The original Macintosh introduced the world to computers, forever changing the way people experience technology, and allowing people to do things that were never possible before. With this Easter egg, warp back in time with a classic Macintosh theme to relive the magic on your iPhone. Change the date on your iPhone to January 1, 1970, press and hold the power button to reboot your device, and prepare for a wild ride!

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Analysis:

In February 2016, a story that became widely popular online came with an interesting claim that iPhones (and also iPads) contain a classic Macintosh theme with Easter egg, which can be activated by simply setting the clock date back to January 1, 1970 and rebooting the device. The story mostly carried a picture with text describing the same, and some people in fact fell for the suggestion and happened to brick their iPhones. Yes, the claim is a hoax and a scam; it is in fact a Bug that Apple Company later addressed.

The story doing rounds heavily via social media and online forum sites suggested Apple users that if they set the date of their Apple product to 1 January 1970 and then reboot, it will bring up a retro-themed menu based on the old Apple computer operating systems. According to Business Insider website businessinsider.com.au, the aforementioned troll image originated from anonymous forum 4Chan.org on 11 Feb. 2016 and went on to become viral online. However, point to note; the very first Apple computer, the Apple I came out in 1976 – not in 1970. Changing your iPhone date back to January 1, 1970 and rebooting it will not bring up a cool new theme; it will potentially brick your device, making it unusable. This is in fact a newly discovered bug Apple has officially acknowledged, which affects 64-bit iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch devices. Apple mentioned they will rectify the “1970” date bug in an upcoming software update:

If you changed the date to May 1970 or earlier and can’t restart your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch

Manually changing the date to May 1970 or earlier can prevent your iOS device from turning on after a restart.

An upcoming software update will prevent this issue from affecting iOS devices. If you have this issue, contact Apple Support.

So Apple users, do not fall for the hoax claims and scam asking you to change your device clock back to 1970. Do not change your iPhone’s clock to January 1, 1970; you might even want to warn your friends about it before they inadvertently brick their Apple devices. In case you fell for the scam rendering your device useless, take it to an Apple store for possible repair or replacement in case of warranty.